Chapter 93 – Evolution, Not Corruption (1)
“…”
From a young age, she admired mages. Magic was the very foundation they developed.
Magic was the miraculous power that defied the laws. At the same time, it was the force of justice that made humans more perfect.
Like everyone in this world, she worked hard and, after being recognized for her talent, learned magic.
As she learned magic, she came to understand how the mages of the past fought valiantly in their homeland and struggled to save people.
Thus, she felt immense pride. In being a mage, in being their descendant.
But gradually, the reality she faced was different. The elders who had once experienced fierce battle began investing their sharp combat senses into politics, having come to a safe world.
The younger generation, growing up, fundamentally possessed arrogance. Because there were no longer any competitors who could ‘compete’ with them on this land that had driven out the Devouring Fungus.
In this peaceful and prosperous new world, where they monopolized all power, the mages were both developing and, at the same time, slowly stagnating and rotting.
They believed they were moving down the right path and saw the world advancing, but that was not the reality.
“Reina of Blakecl… no, now that she has been stripped of her title, she has become a mere prisoner. According to the newly revised Special Law on Mage Corruption, you will be executed as an example.”
The torture chamber door, still exuding the stench of burning flesh, swung open, and the blurry figure of an investigator, holding documents, recited her charges while she hung upside down. Naturally, it was a sentence made from fabricated confessions and evidence.
Her parched lips, having lost the strength to speak, let no sound emerge.
In the end, she quietly closed her eyes.
No matter how hard she resisted against the wall of reality, she couldn’t leave a scratch, only causing herself pain.
She, who had once proudly voiced and demonstrated the noble cause of magic and true justice, was trampled like this.
‘I…”
However, her heart had not fallen yet.
The mage Reina, who once admired and took pride in humans who boldly confronted magic and the spawn of dragons, now felt only emptiness, disappointment, and hatred within her heart.
As her body, now released from its suspension, was dragged toward the guillotine, the feeling remained the same.
If her vocal cords had not torn from screaming, and if she had strength, she might have spat out curses.
All she could do now was to express her hatred through her eyes. Having shattered all trust she had in society and mages, she was already half out of her mind.
“But investigator, even if I’ve been stripped of my title, as a mage from the association, how can I be publicly executed alongside common criminals?”
“I don’t know. It’s an order from above.”
They left the investigation headquarters and dragged Reina to a place where criminals were executed or punished publicly.
Reina’s eyes saw the guillotine. Beneath it, heads and bodies being disposed of.
Being executed as an example like this was originally reserved for murderers or rapists and other heinous criminals. For a person like her to be executed here without a name and in a swift manner was abnormal.
“Ugh.”
As the corpse of an unknown man was cleared away, her own body, battered and torn to shreds, was hastily placed into the guillotine without even being blindfolded.
‘Why…’
Perhaps the last sight she would see would be the faces of the people looking at her with jeers and mockery.
They, of course, had no idea who she was or what wrong she had committed.
They could not comprehend that the message she wholeheartedly wanted to convey was meant to save their lives.
“Execute her!”
At the moment the order was given, tears streamed from her eyes, which she thought had long since dried up.
“Ah.”
At that moment, she caught sight of a pair of red eyes among the crowd, staring directly at her. The moment she saw those eyes, she sighed unconsciously.
The face of the woman who shone with those red eyes was quickly covered with a black mask.
*
“Why is this happening?”
After the brief encounter with Shin Woo, when she returned.
Eve tilted her head in confusion.
The reason was the attitude of the humans. Having poured all available military power into Shin Woo, Eve had prepared for the humans to regroup and invade the nest.
Thus, she had already devised dozens of defensive plans, such as collapsing the ground.
However, the humans did not move at all.
“There are no movements from them. There must be something up.”
“…Really?”
Eve was running countless hypotheses simultaneously but couldn’t grasp anything.
But Kang Do-yeon, who stood beside her, chuckled.
She understood humans better than Eve did.
Although Eve had analyzed and understood humans, simply studying them could not reveal what kind of species they truly were, given the complexity of their forms and cultures.
“I think they just haven’t decided anything yet. Maybe due to conflicting opinions or lack of information.”
“That’s nonsense. They have well-developed social organizations and power structures, as well as the technology to utilize them. And if they lack information, they should prioritize gathering it in any way, rather than sitting idle; that’s common sense. Even the Moonlight Fairies who lived in that wretched cave did at least that.”
“A group capable of deriving rational, systematic, and calculated results and moving at once is either us or robots.”
Kang Do-yeon scoffed. Eve looked down on humans as primitive and inefficient, but in truth, she held them in higher regard than anyone.
“…Have they really done nothing at all?”
Eve’s voice hardened.
There was a deep anger in her tone. Of course, it would be best to quickly kill the humans and extract the gate-related technology, as they would need it.
But at the same time, she was greatly disappointed by the pitiful show put on by those who should be her rivals and adversaries, providing her with the materials and trials she needed for her growth.
“Useless, trash.”
“But we still don’t know what their situation is.”
“I hope that’s the case.”
Eve rose from her throne and began calculating once more. Kang Do-yeon silently stood by, watching her.
“It seems like it’s due to a lack of information. Something must be happening. It might be related to the units or players we observed last time. If they realized our identity, there would definitely be some form of movement.”
Eve quickly made her judgment. It was true that they lacked information. For the sake of caution, they hadn’t sent reconnaissance troops deep inland, for example, near the main base of Menace.
Information obtained by eavesdropping from the fringes or interrogating prisoners had time delays and limitations.
“Then, are we sending reconnaissance troops deeper?”
“That seems necessary. So, this time, we need to attempt a special kind of reconnaissance.”
At that moment, Eve’s eyes lit up. Kang Do-yeon sensed the change and flinched.
“We have here someone who knows humans better than anyone else, someone who can disguise and conduct high-level reconnaissance perfectly.”
“But those people are completely different from me! They’re just foreigners, or rather, beings from another world!”
“What does that matter? They’re the same human species, and they look the same on the outside, so just infiltrate and listen in.”
Kang Do-yeon waved her hands in panic at Eve’s pointing finger, but Eve had already completed her calculations.
It was her intention to infiltrate Kang Do-yeon into the enemy’s midst, toward the continental capital of Menace.
“Go and report thoroughly. I want to know if the humans really are that dumb and frustrating. I don’t think so. Humans have their unique strengths. Just as I have my own.”
The will of the hive mind was resolute. Kang Do-yeon had no choice but to accept the order.
She herself understood that Eve’s plan was rational.
“…What if they disappoint you?”
As Kang Do-yeon spread her wings to depart, she cautiously asked the question. Eve, who had been staring blankly at the sky, smiled subtly.
Then she raised her arm, pointing in all directions.
“The minimum expansion we calculated at the beginning is nearing completion. Plus, there are many harvests obtained from there. We will crush, destroy, and devour everything in one go.”
The legion’s nest was continuously covering the area without taking a single break.
That expansion act, which had not faced any proper obstruction, was already nearing its end. Once the target was achieved, they could wipe out all obstacles with the large-scale forces that would continuously surge forth.
Eve’s plan was to slowly and completely devour this clean world again.
“…I’ll be back.”
With that vision imagined in her mind, Kang Do-yeon cast aside her doubts and soared into the sky, quickly traversing the air.
And while Reina’s group was captured and dragged to Menace for interrogation.
Kang Do-yeon, taking advantage of the night, landed in a forest near Menace and attempted to transform her body to disguise herself.
When she emerged from the forest again, she had become a woman dressed in plain clothes, like the ordinary women of this place, instead of a grotesque creature with black wings and hideous armor.
